Reading people consider dealing with the menace of drugs more of a priority than any other town in the Thames Valley.

Chief Constable Sara Thornton talking to Reading Borough Council’s cabinet on Monday said it was “very unusual” to find a town where so many neighbourhoods had concerns about drugs.

She said: “It is the only town with so many neighbourhoods flagging up drugs.”

The chief constable said it was normal to see anti-social behaviour and speeding high on the list of priorities. Litter also figured among the concerns of most neighbourhoods across the constabulary area – but not at all in Reading.

But the worries expressed by people living in Reading about drug dealing set it apart from other towns in the Thames Valley. Seven out of 14 neighbourhood policing areas and nine of the 16 Neighbourhood Action Groups have put drugs high on their priority list for police to tackle.

After the cabinet meeting Councillor Tony Page said these were perceptions and in some cases when people saw groups of youths hanging about they assumed they were dealing drugs.

But he added: “It is certainly true to say that two thirds of Reading NAGs have drugs as a priority.

“This was clear from the original surveys that were done when neighbourhood policing first started and people identified their perceptions.

“In some areas perhaps, the perception was greater than the reality but in other areas like Orts Road and Mandela Court it was a real issue.

“As a result the police have been able to concentrate resources on policing the area, which wasn’t always the case.”

Acting Superintendent Steve Thwaites who attended the cabinet meeting said afterwards: “It is true that concerns about drugs are higher in Reading than anywhere else.

“In other places, speeding and litter tend to have a higher priority.

“Of course anti-social behaviour is a priority everywhere, but Reading stands out as a town where drugs are a priority.”

He went on: “We still recognise that the public perception is that drugs are a priority and we have done a great deal to tackle drugs through Operation Falcon which is still actively supported.”

The chief constable, making her annual presentation to cabinet, also identified burglary as an unusually high cause for concern in Reading.

She acknowledged burglaries had risen significantly in the last year by 23.8 per cent and robberies were also up by 25.5 per cent – although vehicle crime had dropped by 8.9 per cent.

Cllr Page said: “Burglaries have gone up in the last year, but the trend over the past few years has been downwards.

“One of the problems seems to be that people are not carrying out basic security and making it too easy for the burglars.

“They leave their keys in reach of the front door so that a reasonably well-equipped burglar can either open the door through the letterbox or steal the keys and get in that way.

“There has also been an increase in ‘vamoose’ burglaries where people break in to steal the car keys.

“We need to get across the message that people can prevent this by exercising basic levels of security on their own homes.”